THE FIELD, SCOPE AND OPPORTUNITY OF THE AMERICAN-IRISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
BY DENNIS HARVEY SHEAHAN,[[56]] PROVIDENCE, R. I.
The history of a country is dear to the heart of the lover of that country. By the aid of historical study we learn of the origin, growth and development of a race of people; their customs, religions, laws, governments; their accomplishments and what they have contributed to the economy of the world.
The historian points out the past to the present and future. He puts aside the veil that has gathered about the dim past, opens up to the gaze of the bright present the panorama of human achievement, and blazes the way for his successor in the rosy future.
What the clergyman learns from the theological disputations of the past, the poring monk has gathered together; what the physician now acquires with comparative ease is furnished him by the knowledge garnered from the experience of his brethren from the time when man learned that pain and aches affected his being; what the lawyer gains from precedents is a guiding light which sheds its rays upon problems of jurisprudence that the legal lore of the past generations has taken from the leaves of experience; what formulæ the scientist is able to demonstrate, he owes to the observations of men who, through the ages, have chronicled the phenomena of nature; the statesman is able to meet the crisis of the present by being informed as to other crises in governmental affairs.
The citizen of a republic who neglects to learn the fundamental principles upon which rest the laws of the land; who does not know how the country was developed and maintained is as a blind man and not able to bring to the exercise of his suffrage the amount of intelligence that the country has a right to require from him.
This obligation comes to us in a twofold capacity. We, as citizens of this great republic, should study the history of our country from a patriotic standpoint, while as Irishmen, or descendants of Irishmen, it should be not only a duty, but a pleasure, to learn of the deeds of the Irish in America.
Therefore, an organization such as the American-Irish Historical Society, if it had no other raison d’être, would accomplish a patriotic purpose if it served only as an incentive to the study of the deeds of Irishmen and their descendants in America. It has become almost a maxim in historical matters, that the history of events cannot be accepted as facts until the generation which lived at the time said events occurred has passed away.
The passions, influences and conditions which generate, shape and control events, lend a coloring to their recital, which deep-hued or faint as painted by the writer at the time, are toned down or made stronger by the historian of a future generation, who, unmindful of passions, influences or conditions, and with an eye single to the preservation of history by means of the truth, makes past occurrences stand out in their true light.
Deeds that have received but a passing mention from writers whose minds were biased, are rescued from an unmerited insignificance, and placed high in the Temple of Fame; while highly extolled acts, given undue prominence by a partisan writer, are consigned to a merited oblivion by the historian of a later but more impartial epoch.
A member of the Society of Friends who desires to familiarize himself with the history of his sect in New England, would find but little of the truth in the writings which have come from such intellectual dyspeptics as Cotton Mather and his disciples. But, in the unwritten history of Quaker persecutions that have become legendary, by the purity of their lives, by their nobility of character and their Christianizing influences, the pioneers of that faith stand out in bold relief in the religious history of Puritan New England, with its dark background of scourging, mutilation, banishments and hangings.
By analogy, how can the Irish-American race expect that the history of Irishmen in New England can be presented in just proportion to the true merits of the case? As in New England, so throughout the colonies. The Virginia Cavalier was not less hostile to the Irish than the Massachusetts Puritan.
Should the American-Irish Historical Society go out of existence to-morrow, it would have already accomplished a grand mission in this: that it has brought forth from obscure records the deeds of Irishmen in America, and has laid the foundation for the erection of an historical monument to Irishmen, that, with its base laid in colonial times, and still being constructed, challenges the respect and admiration of all lovers of American history.
The work of this society has been thus far largely confined to research of New England records. This research has been fruitful of good results. Among other things we learn of the Irish as brickmakers at Rehobeth, Mass., and as settlers in Salem and Lynn in early colonial times.
Again, we learn that the Irish in the Granite state had become so numerous in colonial times that the general court of Massachusetts passed a law prohibiting the “wild Irishmen of New Hampshire” from coming across the state line, lest they should drive out the people of the older colony. As long as that state shall last the glory and the fame of the Sullivans and their contemporaries of the Irish race will remain illustrious.
This research has extracted from the records of Rhode Island the influence of the Irish schoolmaster, MacSparran, in moulding the intellectual development of that colony; it has called attention to the work of George Berkeley in the promotion of education here, and what is to me personally exceedingly pleasant information, that Brown University, my beloved alma mater, in its infancy was succored by the contributions of worthy people residing in Ireland.
The work of presenting to the world the achievements of the Irish in America, in its just proportion to the achievements of men of other races in the colonization, struggle for independence, and the creation of a republic, the development of that republic from a theory into a concrete nation, and the perpetuation of that nation, is a duty not only to the men whose deeds are to be chronicled, but also a debt which we owe to ourselves, which we should cheerfully assume. The labor involved in this from its very nature is such as can only be performed by an organization such as the American-Irish Historical Society.
The true status of the Irish in America, notwithstanding the fact that their brain and brawn have been interwoven in the woof and web of our nation’s fabric, has never been fully appreciated by reason of the prejudices which have been associated with anything that bore an Irish name. This prejudice, in no small part, arose from misconception and misunderstanding of the Irish nature, temperament, and characteristics. There is a brand of bigotry that is sometimes designated as inborn. In the case of a bigot whose bigotry is congenital, it is well to follow the Scriptural injunction to reason not with a fool lest he grow wise.
But in the case of those persons who, by reason of misconception, or want of acquaintance with Irishmen, cannot properly estimate our race, yet whose minds are broad enough to cherish the worth of a man when demonstrated, and whose patriotism counts every man a friend who has contributed to the glory of his country, an impartial history of the deeds of Irishmen in America would effectively serve to displace any prejudice.
What lover of the human race, animated by that noble sentiment of Terrence, “I am a man, and I think nothing human foreign to me,” can fail to appreciate the sturdy virtues of the Irish people in America, their patient industry, their obedience to constituted authority, their domestic constancy, their desire to provide homes for their families, and education for their children.
What patriotic American can fail to be moved by emotions of gratitude when he learns among other facts that the Irish in Ireland assisted with food and provisions the struggling settlers of Boston in a time of dire distress; that Irishmen of Philadelphia contributed large sums of money to the famished Revolutionary heroes at Valley Forge; that George Washington considered himself honored in being elected a member of an Irish society; that nine of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were men of Irish blood; that on the field of war, and in the council chamber of the nation, as well as in the administration of national, state, and municipal affairs, from the time of our earliest history to the present time, men of that race have given their lives and property to the nation’s cause. The work of this society thus far in this direction gives promise of either destroying the prejudices that have hitherto existed against the Irish people, or removing the venom from the fangs of bigotry.
To my mind the most urgent need of a society of this nature is the means it affords of preserving Irish history in America. It would be a great misfortune if the history of the Irish people in America, at present fragmentary at best, yet gathered together under favorable conditions and after the most careful and painstaking labor, could not find some secure lodgment.
What more suitable abiding place than the cabinet of the American-Irish Historical Society, from whence it could find its way into the private and public libraries, not only of our own country, but of the civilized world?
This Society, in the short time it has been in existence, has accomplished so much in its chosen field as already to have demonstrated quite clearly its scope. From the publications issued by its members, notably the work of Secretary-General Murray in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Commissioner Linehan in New Hampshire, Senator Walsh in Georgia, Hon. Joseph T. Lawless in Virginia, and others, our Society has already contributed a fund of rich historical value to the history of this country. It would suffice to cite this labor to show the scope.
The thought has occurred to me that it might be well, however, to suggest a specialization of this work, and to provide avenues for its dissemination. The Society should pursue the line of procedure already mapped out by extending its membership to every state in the country. Membership should be selected from men of scholarly attainments, devoted to historical research. This membership should be so catholic as to include men of all religious denominations and nationalities.
Apropos of this, I beg leave to call attention to the great work done and being done by German scholars in the study of Celtic, to illustrate the probable value of assistance that might be rendered to us by men of other nationalities. The Society should coöperate with the movements in the other states looking to the establishment of record commissions, and in states where such movements have not been set on foot, to labor to create such movements.
With such an inviting field of labor spread out before us, this Society not only supplies a long-felt want, but also a means of inspiration. Each member can contribute to the common fund of historical data, and the sum total of these contributions will go to make up a work of great value.
The need of such an organization as the American-Irish Historical Society being demonstrated, and its scope clearly defined, all that remains to be done to perpetuate its success is to continue in the work already so auspiciously undertaken.